A brief history ...

Cricket in South Africa was established by the British, and the first tour by a side from England took place in 1888-89. The following summer a domestic competition, the Currie Cup, named after Sir Donald Currie, who donated the trophy, began with two sides - Kimberley and Transvaal - playing against each other. The competition quickly expanded, and really reached its peak during the years of isolation in the 1970s and 1980s when the standards were exceptionally high. After the end of the apartheid regime, the domestic game suffered and in 2004-05 the competition underwent a major overhaul, with six new franchises introduced with the aim of producing a stronger top-tier of sides underpinned by a second-tier tournament based around the old provincial teams.